PLACE THAT RECOGNIZES DRURY THERE. THE ATTACKS DOWNTOWN AND AT WATERFRONT PARK IN MARCH MADE MANY PEOPLE RECONSIDER HOW SAFE THEIR CITY REALLY IS. NOW SOME ARE QUESTIONING IF LOUISVILLE POLICE HAVE ENOUGH OFFICERS ON THE STREETS. W-L-K-Y'S MARK VANDERHOFF INVESTIGATES THE SAFETY CONCERNS. A MOB OF TEENS ASSAULTS A GRANDFATHER IN FRONT OF HIS GRANDCHILDREN HERE ON THE BIG FOUR BRIDGE... THEN THEY ATTACK A MOTHER NEARBY... BEFORE DESCENDING ON A STORE. SINCE THE ATTACKS, LOUISVILLE FORMED A WORK GROUP AND IS HIRING A CONSULTANT... TO DETERMINE IF MORE OFFICERS ARE NEEDED.> "there's no doubt that large numbers of police officers in an area deter crime. And so whether they're just riding around or investigating or doing whatever, I want as many as I can get." JAMES PEDEN, CO-CHAIR OF THE LOUISVILLE METRO COUNCIL'S PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE SAYS THE MARCH ATTACKS -- AND CRIME IN GENERAL -- WOULD BE DOWN IF LOUISVILLE HAD MORE POLICE OFFICERS. BUT NOT EVERYONE BELIEVES MORE OFFICERS TRANSLATES TO SAFER STREETS. ALEXANDER WEISS IS A CONSULTANT WHO ADVISES POLICE DEPARTMENTS AROUND THE NATION. "if you look around the country, you'll see a huge variation in the number of officers per population, for example. And huge variations in the crime rates. Some places with very low officers per population rates have very low crime rates." W-L-K-Y OBTAINED FBI DATA THAT SHOWS LOUISVILLE HAS 1.86 POLICE OFFICERS PER 1,000 PEOPLE... FEWER THAN INDIANAPOLIS, NASHVILLE AND CINCINNATI. LOUISVILLE ALSO HAS THE LOWEST CRIME RATE COMPARED TO ITS NEIGHBORS.... TAD HUGHES, DIRECTOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE'S SOUTHERN POLICE INSTITUTE, SAYS CRIME RATES ARE AFFECTED BY MANY DIFFERENT FACTORS AND ADDING MORE OFFICERS SHOULD NOT BE LOOKED AT AS A QUICK FIX. 'automatically, you don't get an automatic reduction in crime. What's critical is what you do with those officers. What's the patrol allocation and what the strategies to which you assign them? That's the most important thing. Simply adding more officers will not reduce crime per se." METRO POLICE CHIEF CONRAD IS PART OF THE WORK GROUP ALONG WITH TWO METRO COUNCIL MEMBERS, DEMOCRAT DAVID JAMES AND REPUBLICAN KELLY DOWNARD... AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE, DAVE MUTCHLER. THEY'RE ALL TRYING TO ANSWER THE QUESTION - ARE MORE OFFICERS NEEDED HERE? "i think so, based on my experience, but I think that is the value of doing this kind of study, because I think this is an important enough topic that it shouldn't be based on a gut reaction from me or from anyone else." you know, that's a hard thing to gauge. And one of the things that I did mention, at the council meeting, was that we really need to make an effort to get to the authorized strength that we have set now, and we can gauge from there whether that's enough officers or not." THE NUMBER OF POLICE OFFICERS LMPD CAN HIRE IS 1,281. IT'S CONSIDERED AUTHORIZED STRENGTH. BUT RIGHT NOW THE DEPARTMENT ONLY HAS 1,205 POSITIONS FILLED. TAKE AWAY OFFICERS IN TRAINING, AND THE NUMBER FALLS TO 1,164. MAYOR GREG FISCHER SAYS HIS NEXT BUDGET WILL INCLUDE MONEY FOR MORE OFFICERS. HE WON'T SAY HOW MANY. BOTH EXPERTS I SPOKE WITH SAY LOUISVILLE IS ON THE RIGHT TRACK... HAVING THIS DISCUSSION, AND HIRING SOMEONE FROM THE OUTSIDE TO TAKE A LOOK. MARK VANDERHOFF, W-L- K-Y NEWS. WE'LL FIND OUT HOW MUCH MONEY MAYOR FISCHER HAS BUDGETED FOR POLICE NEXT WEEK WHEN HE RELEASES HIS PROPOSED BUDGET. MEANWHILE THE WORK GROUP WILL MEET FOR THE FIRST TIME AT THE END OF THE MONTH.